A developer container of the present invention includes a flexible bag whose volume decreases in accordance with the decrease in pressure inside the bag. An outlet forming member forms an outlet for discharging a developer stored in the bag. When the volume of the bag decrease due to the drop of the pressure, a deformation assisting member helps the bag deform to a preselected shape. A developer conveying device and an image forming apparatus practicable with the developer container are also disclosed.
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1. A developer container comprising:
a flexible bag whose volume decreases in accordance with a decrease in pressure thereinside; an outlet forming member forming an outlet for discharging a developer stored in said bag; and deformation assisting means for helping, when the volume of said bag decreases due to a drop of the pressure, said bag deforms to a preselected shape.
23. A developer conveying device comprising:
a gas sending device for sending a gas under pressure; an air supply passage for guiding the gas delivered from said gas sending device to a developer container, which stores a developer therein, via a plurality of gas outlets; a developer passage formed with a developer inlet for discharging the developer from said developer container; and gas delivery control means for controlling individual flows of the gas into said developer container via said plurality of gas inlets.
21. An image forming apparatus comprising:
an image carrier; a developing unit for developing a latent image formed on said image carrier with a developer; a developer replenishing device for replenishing a developer to said developing unit; and a developer container storing the developer to be replenished and removably mounted to said developer replenishing device; said developer container comprising: a flexible bag whose volume decreases in accordance with a decrease in pressure thereinside; an outlet forming member forming an outlet for discharging the developer stored in said bag; and deformation assisting means for helping, when the volume of said bag decrease due to a drop of the pressure, said bag deform to a preselected shape.
52. An image forming apparatus comprising:
an image carrier; a developing unit for developing a latent image formed on said image carrier with a developer; a developer container storing the developer; and a developer replenishing device for conveying the developer discharged from said developer container to said developing unit to thereby replenishing said developer; said developer replenishing device comprising: a gas sending device for sending a gas under pressure; an air supply passage for guiding the gas delivered from said gas sending device to said developer container via a plurality of gas outlets; a developer passage formed with a developer inlet for discharging the developer from said developer container; and gas delivery control means for controlling individual flows of the gas into said developer container via said plurality of gas inlets.
55. An image forming apparatus comprising:
an image carrier; a developing unit for developing a latent image formed on said image carrier with a developer; a developer container storing the developer; and a developer replenishing device for conveying the developer discharged from said developer container to said developing unit to thereby replenishing said developer; wherein said developing unit comprises a plurality of developing units each storing a developer of a particular color, said developer container comprises a plurality of developer containers each being mounted to a particular developing unit; said developer replenishing device comprises a developer conveying device comprising: a gas sending device for sending a gas under pressure; an air supply passage for guiding the gas delivered from said gas sending device to said developer container via a plurality of gas outlets; a developer passage formed with a developer inlet for discharging the developer from said developer container; and gas delivery control means for controlling individual flows of the gas into said developer container via said plurality of gas inlets; a plurality of gas supply passages each are assigned to a particular toner container, and a single air sending device shared by said plurality of gas supply passages.
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said reinforcing means is positioned on each of said first walls, said second walls each are formed with a fold for causing, when the volume of said bag decreases, the second wall to bend such that said first walls move toward each other, and said reinforcing means comprises two reinforcing means positioned at both sides of said fold.
11. The developer container as claimed in
said first walls comprise sheet members more rigid than said second walls, said second walls each are formed with a fold for causing, when the volume of said bag decreases, the second wall to bend such that said first walls move toward each other; and said reinforcing means comprises at least one reinforcing means positioned at either side of said fold.
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said reinforcing means is positioned on each of said first walls, said second walls each are formed with a fold for causing, when the volume of said bag decreases, the second wall to bend such that said first walls move toward each other; and said reinforcing means comprises two reinforcing means positioned at both sides of said fold.
20. The developer container as claimed in
said first walls comprise sheet members more rigid than said second walls, said second walls each are formed with a fold for causing, when the volume of said bag decreases, the second wall to bend such that said first walls move toward each other; and said reinforcing means comprises at least one reinforcing means positioned at either side of said fold.
22. The apparatus as claimed in
24. The device as claimed in
said gas sending device comprises a plurality of gas sending devices each being communicated to a particular gas supply passage.
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a developer container of the type including a soft bag whose volume decreases with a decrease in pressure inside the bag, and an outlet forming member forming an outlet for discharging a developer stored in the bag. Also, the present invention relates to a developer conveying device for conveying the developer from the developer container to a developing replenishing device by use of a compressed gas, and an image forming apparatus including the same.
2. Description of the Background Art
An electrophotographic image forming apparatus of the type developing a latent image formed on a photoconductive drum or similar image carrier and transferring the resulting toner image to a sheet is conventional. It is a common practice with this type of image forming apparatus to use a toner container for replenishing fresh toner to a developing unit. Generally, the toner container is delivered to a user as a product independent of the image forming apparatus. This type of image forming apparatus often uses a screw, auger or similar mechanical means for replenishing toner from the toner container to a developing unit little by little. The problem with this kind of toner replenishing system is that a toner conveyance path must be substantially linearly arranged, obstructing free layout.
In light of the above, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 7-219329 discloses a toner replenishing system including a screw pump and an air pump. The screw pump includes a rotor rotatable to convey toner in the axial direction and a stator enclosing the rotor while forming a passage between it and the rotor. The air pump sends compressed air to toner being conveyed by the screw pump in order to fluidize the toner. This kind of toner replenishing system promotes free layout of the toner conveyance path because compressed air can convey the toner from a toner container to a developing unit via a flexible tube. The toner container can therefore be provided with any desired shape and size matching with an idle space available in the image forming apparatus. Further, the toner is conveyed together with air and can therefore be stably fluidized and conveyed. In addition, no unnecessary stresses act on the toner during conveyance, so that the toner coheres or sticks little.
Moreover, the toner replenishing system taught in the above document makes it possible to implement the toner container as a flexible bag whose volume decreases with a decrease in pressure inside the bag, which occurs due to the suction of the screw pump. The flexible bag therefore collapses in a compact configuration when run out of toner and is therefore easy to handle. By contrast, a toner cartridge or a hard bottle, which is another specific form of the toner container, does not deform and therefore remains in the same size even when run out of toner. The toner replenishing system taught in the above document allows a soft bottle formed of a soft material to be used. The soft bottle whose volume decreases when run out of toner is easy for the user to handle. In addition, a minimum of cost is necessary for the soft bottle to be transported from the user's station to the manufacturer's station.
However, the soft bottle does not collapse in a regular shape, but collapses in an irregular shape as if it were twisted. This impairs the merit of the collapsible toner container as to storage and transport. Moreover, the soft bottle collapsed in an irregular shape is not attractive in appearance or easy to handle.
The toner replenishing system proposed in the above document can convey the toner out of the toner container only with the suction of the screw pump. However, a problem is that the toner deposited on the inner periphery of the toner container does not reach the outlet of the toner container despite the suction, but remains in the toner container in the form of blocks (toner blocking), depending on the shape of the container. To cope with toner blocking, air under pressure may be sent from an air pump into the toner container in parallel with the suction of the screw pump for thereby agitating the toner and removing the toner from the inner periphery of the container. However, while the toner around the outlet of the toner container, in particular, must be surely fluidized, even the combined suction and air scheme fails to surely fluidize it, depending on the shape of the toner container and the air sending system.
Technologies relating to the present invention are also disclosed in, e.g., Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication Nos. 10-97130, 2000-194182, 2000-267412, 2000-267414, and 2000-356898.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a developer container easy to handle, store and transport when run out of a developer, and an image forming apparatus using the same.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a developer conveying device capable of agitating and sufficiently fluidizing toner stored in a toner container by sending compressed air or similar gas into the toner container, and an image forming apparatus using the same.
In accordance with the present invention, a developer container includes a flexible bag whose volume decreases in accordance with the decrease in pressure inside the bag. An outlet forming member forms an outlet for discharging a developer stored in the bag. When the volume of the bag decrease due to the drop of the pressure, a deformation assisting member helps the bag deform to a preselected shape.
Also, in accordance with the present invention, a developer conveying device includes a gas sending device for sending a gas under pressure. An air supply passage guides the gas delivered from the gas sending device to a developer container, which stores a developer therein, via a plurality of gas outlets. A developer passage is formed with a developer inlet for discharging the developer from the developer container. A controller controls the individual flows of the gas into the developer container via the plurality of gas inlets.
An image forming apparatus using the above developer container and including the above developer conveying device is also disclosed.
The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description taken with the accompanying drawings in which:
To better understand the present invention, the problems of the conventional technologies will be described more specifically hereinafter. First, as shown in
To allow the entire toner existing in a toner container to reach the outlet of the toner container, it is particularly important to surely fluidize toner around the outlet. However, such toner sometimes cannot be fluidized, depending on the shape of the toner container and the air sending system.
Even if toner around the toner outlet 647 of the nozzle 640 is successfully fluidized, toner bridging that makes the portion around the toner outlet 647 hollow is likely to occur.
In light of the above, there has been proposed an air sending system in which an air pump sends air into the toner container 630 via a plurality of positions. This kind of air sending system allows air to agitate the toner in the toner container 630 over a broad range for thereby effectively obstructing toner blocking. More specifically, a plurality of air inlets 646 are formed in the toner container 630.
However, the above air sending system uses a single air pump for sending air to a plurality of air inlets 646. Experiments showed that when the pressure of the toner acting on the air inlets 646 was uneven, air flew into the toner container 630 only via the air inlet where the load was lightest, while leaving the other air inlet stopped by the toner. Consequently, only one of the air inlets 646 functions and prevents air from fluidizing the toner in the toner container 630 over a broad range.
Preferred embodiments of the present invention free from the problems described above will be described hereinafter.
A first embodiment of the present invention is applied to an electrophotographic, monochromatic printer including a single developing unit. First, the general construction and operation of the printer will be described with reference to FIG. 5.
The developing unit 10 is of the type using a two-ingredient type developer, i.e., a toner and carrier mixture. The inside of the developing unit 10 is divided into two chambers by a partition 10a. Screws 11a and 11b are respectively disposed in the two chambers, and each agitates the developer in the chamber while circulating it in the chamber. When the developer is brought to the vicinity of a sleeve or developer carrier 12, a magnet roller, not shown, disposed in the sleeve 12 causes the developer to magnetically deposit on the sleeve 12. The sleeve 12 in rotation conveys the developer deposited thereon to a developing position where the sleeve 12 faces the drum 1. At this instant, a doctor blade 13 regulates the developer so as to cause it to form a thin layer.
At the developing position, only the toner contained in the developer is transferred from the sleeve 12 to the latent image formed on the drum 1. As a result, the toner in the developer is consumed as the development is repeated. In the illustrative embodiment, to maintain the toner content of the developer, the toner replenishing device, generally 20, replenishes fresh toner to the developing unit 10 via a port 14 little by little.
The toner replenishing device 20 includes a screw pump 23 communicated to the port 14 of the developing unit 10. A tube 23 is communicated to the screw pump 23 and forms a toner passage or developer passage. The tube 23 should preferably be formed of polyurethane rubber, nitril rubber, EPDM or similar rubber that is flexible and highly resistant to the toner. A holder 22 supports a toner container or developer container 30 and is formed of resin or similar highly rigid material.
The toner container 30 is generally made up of a toner or developer storing portion 31 and a mouth portion 32. The toner storing portion 31 is implemented as a bag formed of a flexible sheet material. The mouth portion 32 plays the role of an outlet forming member that forms a toner outlet or developer outlet. The toner container 31 should preferably be implemented by polyethylene sheets, polyester sheets, polyurethane sheets or similar plastic sheets. A seal member 33 is fitted in the mouth portion 32 and formed with a cruciform cut. A nozzle 40 is inserted into the toner container 30 via the cut of the seal member 33, providing fluid communication between the toner container 30 and the toner replenishing device 20. With the above configuration, the toner container 30 can be easily replaced without any leakage of the toner when it runs out of the toner.
As shown in
In the above configuration, the toner conveyed from the toner container 30 via the toner passage 31a of the nozzle 40 and tube 21 flows into the screw pump 23, i.e., a space between the rotor 24 and the stator 25 via an inlet 23a. The rotor 24 in rotation conveys the toner to the right-hand side as viewed in FIG. 7. The toner then drops via an outlet 23b and enters the developing unit 10 via the port 14, FIG. 5.
As shown in
As shown in
The operation of the toner replenishing device will be described hereinafter. When the controller receives a signal representative of short toner content from the developing device 10, the controller starts replenishing the fresh toner. First, the controller drives the air pumps 60a and 60b to send air into the toner container 30 and drives the drive motor 26 to cause the screw pump 23 to suck the toner from the toner container 30. Air sent from the air pumps 60a and 60b flows into the toner container 30 via the air supply passages 61a and 61b, air passages 44a and 44b, and air outlets 46a and 46b. Such air agitates the toner in the toner container 30 for thereby fluidizing it.
Further, air flown into the toner container 30 raises pressure inside the toner container 30. The resulting difference between the pressure inside the toner container 30 and the pressure outside the same (atmospheric pressure) causes the toner to flow out of the toner container 30 via the toner outlet 47. At this instant, the suction of the screw pump 23 also acts on the toner.
The toner flown out of the toner container 30 is delivered to the screw pump 23 via the toner passage 41a of the nozzle 40 and tube 21 and then delivered from the screw pump 23 to the developing unit 10 via the port 14. On the replenishment of a preselected amount of toner, the controller stops driving the air pumps 60a and 60b and drive motor 26 and closes the valves 62a and 62b to thereby end toner replenishment. The valves 62a and 62b so closed prevent the toner from flowing from the toner container 30 toward the air pumps 60a and 60b via the air passages 44a and 44b of the nozzle 40.
The amount of air sent from the air pumps 60a and 60b is selected to be smaller than the amount of air sucked by the screw pump 23. Therefore, the pressure inside the toner container 30 drops due to toner consumption. In the illustrative embodiment, the toner storing portion 31 of the toner container 30 is implemented by flexible sheets and therefore decreases in volume in accordance with the drop of the pressure inside the container 30.
As shown in
The guide member 34 shown in
If desired, the inner surface of one wall D,
As stated above, the toner container 30, except for the mouth portion 32, is automatically folded down in the form of a flat sheet when run out of the toner. This not only facilitates the replacement of the toner container 30 by the user, but also promotes efficient storage of used toner containers 30 and efficient collection by the manufacturer.
More specifically, one flat member 134a is positioned on each of two walls B1 and B2 (only B1 is visible) of the toner container 30 facing each other. Two flat members 134b and 134c are respectively positioned on two portions C1 and C2 of each wall adjoining each other at both sides of the fold 31a. The flat members 134a through 134c constitute reinforcing means. Therefore, the portions of the toner container 30 with the guide members 134a through 134c are more rigid than the other portions, implementing the same advantages as the illustrative embodiment.
Further, as for the toner container 30, the printer needs an extra space for accommodating the top of the toner container 30 protruding outward as stated above. The third modification makes such an extra space needless because the top of the toner container 730 collapses inward, successfully reducing the overall size of the printer. It is to be noted that the third modification may be applied to any one of the illustrative embodiment and the first and second modifications thereof or may be provided with the configuration of the toner container 30, if desired.
As shown in
In the third modification, the first walls B1 and B2 are not provided with any guide member, but are provided with greater thickness than the portions C1 and C2 of the second walls. Therefore, as shown in
The portions C1 and C2 of each second wall are not formed with any fold, but are implemented by relatively thin, flexible sheets and provided with the flat members 734a and 734b. If the flat members 734a and 734b are absent in the portions C1 and C2, then the second wall would fold in the form of bellows and would thereby prevent the toner container 730 from having the expected shape or the expected thickness when folded down. In the third modification, the rigid, flat members 734a and 734b help the portions C1 and C2 fold at the center 731a between them. Such a guide member therefore achieves the same advantages as the guide member 34 of the first embodiment. If desired, the folds particular to the illustrative embodiment and the first and second modifications thereof may also be applied to the portions C1 and C2 in order to further stabilize the shape of the toner container 730 after deformation.
Only one of the flat members 734a and 734b may be positioned in either one of the two portions C1 and C2 of each second wall, if desired. Even a single flat member can successfully help the associated portion C1 or C2 yield inward while pulling the other portion inward.
The flat members 734a and 734b may be formed integrally with the toner storing portion of the toner container 730 or may be implemented as sheets or plates separate from the toner container 730 as in the illustrative embodiment and the first and second modifications thereof. Alternatively, the flat members 734a and 734b may be implemented by forming projections and recesses on the toner container 730.
A fourth modification of the illustrative embodiment will be described hereinafter.
As shown in
Before mounting the toner container 30 to the toner replenishing device 20, the user sets the toner container 30 the container holder 322. The user then holds the container holder 322 and thrust the toner outlet of the mouth portion 32 into the nozzle 40, thereby mounting the toner container 30 to the toner replenishing device 20 together with the container holder 322. When the toner container 30 runs out of toner, the user removes the toner container 30 from the toner replenishing device 20 by performing the above procedure in the reverse order. The container holder 322 itself is repeatedly used although the toner container 30 is replaced. In light of this, only the container holder 322 may be affixed to the toner replenishing device 20.
A second embodiment of the present invention also implemented as an electrophotographic printer will be described hereinafter. Because the second embodiment is identical with the first embodiment as to the image forming process, the following description will concentrate on the configuration of the nozzle unique to the second embodiment.
In the illustrative embodiment, the air supply to the toner container 30 and the toner discharge from the toner container 30 are not effected at the same time, but are effected, e.g., alternately. More specifically, the controller mentioned earlier first drives the air pumps 60a and 60b in response to a signal representative of short toner container from the developing device 10. The air pumps 60a and 60b respectively send compressed air to the shared paths 444a and 444b of the nozzle 440 via the air inlets 448a and 448b. Such air flows into the toner container 30 via the shared openings 446a and 446b, agitating and thereby fluidizing the toner existing in the toner container 30. On the elapse of a preselected period of time, the controller stops driving the air pumps 60a and 60b and closes the valves 62a and 62b.
Subsequently, the controller drives the drive motor 26 assigned to the screw pump 23. As a result, the toner in the toner container 30 is sucked into the screw pump 23 via the shared openings 446a and 446b, and shared passages 444a and 444b and toner outlets 449a and 449b of the nozzle 440 and tube 21. At this instant, the valves 62a and 62b held in the closed position prevent the toner from flowing toward the air pumps 60a and 60b.
As shown in
A third embodiment of the present invention applied to a color image forming apparatus will be described hereinafter. The color image forming apparatus includes four developing units and operates in the same manner as conventional. The following description will concentrate on the characteristics features of the third embodiment.
Reference will be made to
The illustrative embodiment uses only two air pumps 560a and 560b for sending air into the toner containers 530a through 530d. The first embodiment, for example, would need two air pumps for each of the toner containers 530a through 530c. More specifically, in the illustrative embodiment, the two air pumps 560a and 560b each are shared by one of the air passages of the nozzles assigned to the toner containers 530a through 530d. This successfully reduces the necessary number of pumps from eight to two for thereby saving space available in the printer and reducing the cost of the printer.
Assume that the air pumps 560a and 560b send air to all of the toner containers 530a through 530d at the same time. Then, it is likely that the amount of air sent to each toner container is short and fails to sufficiently fluidize toner. Should air pumps capable of sending a great amount of air be used, they would undesirably scale up the printer and increase power consumption.
In light of the above, valves 562a through 562d are respectively disposed in air supply passages 561a through 561d that provide communication between the air pumps 560a and 560b and toner containers 530a through 530d. When air is to be sent to, e.g., the Y toner container 530a, the valves 562b, 562c and 562d of the air supply passages 561b, 561c and 561d assigned to the other toner containers 530b, 530c and 530c are closed. As a result, air is sent from the air pumps 560a and 560b via only the air supply passages 561a.
As stated above, the toner container of any one of the illustrative embodiments and modifications thereof is easy to handle and efficient to store while saving space. The guide member attached to the toner container is low cost and can be repeatedly used and applied even to conventional toner containers, contributing to easy, low cost production of toner containers.
The third modification of the first embodiment, in particular, allows the toner container most effectively collapse in the ideal sheet-like configuration, as determined by experiments.
In the fourth modification of the first embodiment, the container holder holds the toner container. Therefore, even if the toner storing portion of the toner container is formed of a flexible material, it can be handled as easily as, e.g., a hard bottle formed of a hard material.
In the first to third modifications, assume that pressure acting on one of the air outlets due to the toner is high while pressure acting on the other of them due to the toner is low. Then, the controller or gas delivery control means increases the amount of air to be sent to the one outlet and reduces the amount of air to be sent to the other outlet. This allows such air to sufficiently fluidize the toner without regard to the pressure of the toner acting on the air outlets 46a and 46b, thereby effectively reducing toner blocking. The toner-in air-out passages unique to the second embodiment are successful to simplify the construction and save space and cost. The valves prevent the toner from flowing toward the air pumps.
If desired, a valve or similar flow control means may be disposed in the toner passage 41a,
In the first to third embodiments, air may be sent into the toner container via the two air outlets in the same amount. This, however, is likely to cause bridging to occur in the toner due to a uniform pressure distribution or similar cause.
In summary, it will be seen that the present invention provides a toner container easy to handle and efficient to store and transport when run out of toner. In addition, a gas is sent into the toner container via a plurality of air inlets and can therefore sufficiently agitate and fluidize the toner existing in the toner container.
Various modifications will become possible for those skilled in the art after receiving the teachings of the present disclosure without departing from the scope thereof.
Matsumoto, Junichi, Kasahara, Nobuo, Iwata, Nobuo, Muramatsu, Satoshi
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